Ex-employee robs Phoenix Ace Hardware store after being fired, police say

PHOENIX (3TV/CBS 5) -- Investigators say an ex-employee was arrested after he stole money from a Phoenix Ace Hardware store weeks after being fired. Court documents say on Sunday, Oct. 2 at 7 p.m., 61-year-old Scott Joseph Pearson robbed an Ace Hardware Store near 32nd Street and Indian School Road. Pearson reportedly walked into the manager’s office, opened the safe with a code, and stuffed $1,400 into a black bag before leaving. Surveillance video captured him taking the money out of the safe.

According to court paperwork, the next day, around noon, the manager of Ace Hardware noticed Pearson sleeping at a nearby park and called the police. Officers arrived and told Pearson there was a warrant out for his arrest, and he was detained, investigators said. The manager reportedly told police Pearson was recently let go from the store three weeks before the robbery.

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Police interviewed Pearson, who denied being in the manager’s office and said he went into the store to get water, court paperwork states. Officers then searched him and found nearly $600 in his shorts pocket. He was booked on one count of burglary.